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Abbey of the Arts Featured Poet: Kenneth Steven

We are launching a new series this spring with poets whose work we love and want to feature! Our first poet is Kenneth Steven whose work is deeply inspired by the island of Iona. You can hear Kenneth reading his poem “Iona” below and read more about the connections he makes between poetry and the sacred. The Strangest Gift Sister Mary Teresa gave me a wasps’ nest from the convent garden – just the startings, the first leaves, a cocoon of whisperings – made out of thousands of buzzings. To think that these yellow-black thugs could make such finery, such

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February 6, 2019

Love and Radical Hospitality ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Valentine’s Day is coming, which for many of us is a holiday that only serves to make us feel inadequate, as all highly commercialized things do. And yet the message of love is worth repeating if we can look beneath the chocolate hearts and flowers and the expectation that we all be in a significant relationship or be lacking. Hospitality is the heart of our work – creating a safe space where we can begin welcoming back in the stranger within and in the process discover the hidden wholeness of which Thomas Merton wrote. This kind of

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February 3, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Katy Taylor

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Katy Taylor’s reflection on presence practices. Growing up in a family that put a lot of value on work, in combination with being an Enneagram type One, I have had to consciously practice in order to learn to slow down to the pace of nature, of my body, of the seasons… For many years, while I loved how I felt in nature, when resting, at ease, or in meditation, it’s been a big challenge to prioritize this

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January 30, 2019

The Feast of Brigid and Imbolc ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

St. Brigid at the Market I saw her in the market backlit in the doorway from the evening sun, blue cloak ripples like water dandelions and primrose in her hand. Passersby brush past this moment of light and song in a rush to get shoes off and dinner on, just another day of traffic, bills, and angry bosses. I stood, mouth open, holding three lemons, a pile of sunlight, a miracle in yellow, tiny halos a little girl stops next to me, giggles, points to the door, her mother’s yank drags her back to the world of lists. I fear

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January 27, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Emily Wilmer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Emily Wilmer’s reflection, “The Dance: Spirit, Prayer and Laughter.” We skipped church this morning. We skipped for two reasons. It’s Trinity Sunday, and as much as I appreciate the clergy staff at our church, I couldn’t bear the thought of one more Sunday when someone tried to explain the Trinity. The other reason is that yesterday I spent 6 hours in the yard digging up a new garden area, amending the soil, planting flowers and spreading mulch.

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January 23, 2019

8 Practices of a Good Pilgrimage ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The value of travel was ingrained in me from a young age. When I was growing up in New York City my father worked for the United Nations, and we had the privilege of traveling back to Austria, where he was from, as well as other European countries and once as a teen through Asia. As an adult I began to see the potential for deeper meaning in my journeys. I saw a difference between travel as a tourist and making a journey as a pilgrim. I often define pilgrimage as courting holy disruption. We

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January 20, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kathleen Schwab

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathleen Schwab’s reflection, “Love God Like a Falcon.” On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. (Psalm 63:6 NIV) The relationship between God and a human being is unique, and describing it or making analogies can be tricky. After all, it is essentially unlike any other relationship we have with anyone or anything else. Over the last few years, I’ve found something that unexpectedly offers some insights into the human/God

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January 16, 2019

The Sacred Gifts of Poetry ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dreaming of Stones In the world before waking I meet a winged one, feathered, untethered, who presses in my palm three precious stones, like St. Ita in her dream, but similarities end there, her with saintliness and certainty, me asking questions in the dark. All I know is I am not crafted from patience of rock or gravity of earth, nor flow of river, I am not otter with her hours devoted to play. I am none of these. At least not yet. The stones will still be singing centuries from now, made smooth by all kinds of weather. If

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January 13, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Peter Nagle

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Peter Nagle’s reflection on retiring to the edge. My life partner Joy and I are from New Hampshire and Ct. We’ve been married 20 years coming up and worked together in our former business: A Private Financial Advisory Firm. It was a 38 year career for me. I always considered what I did a ministry. But both of us longed to find a quieter, more simple life. That opportunity presented itself 3 years ago when, out of

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January 9, 2019

Feast of Epiphany – Follow the Star ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The Feast of Epiphany is celebrated today. It is one of my favorite scripture stories as it offers us a series of powerful invitations. The last few lines of the gospel text, offer us a template for an archetypal journey, that is, one we are all invited to make. We can find ourselves in the text if we have ever longed to follow an inkling into the long night knowing there were gifts awaiting us. 1. Follow the star to where it leads The story begins with the magi calling upon the grace of night

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January 6, 2019